Sara Cox Making Refereeing History
When England Rugby’s Sara Cox runs out at the Twickenham Stoop to take charge of Harlequins' home opening match against Worcester Warriors she will be the first woman ever to referee a Premiership rugby fixture.
This Gallagher Premiership first follows Sara in 2020 becoming the first female assistant referee in a Premiership fixture, when Wayne Barnes was in the middle at the Rec for the 23-27 Wasps victory over fellow Premiership play-off contenders Bath.
Pioneer is an apt description, as she was also the world’s first professional female referee when centrally contracted by the RFU in 2016; the first woman to referee a National League 1 match; the first to referee a Premiership Rugby Cup match; and the first female to referee a Greene King IPA Championship match.
Having played rugby for Collumpton and Exeter Saracens, Sara took up refereeing and her CV now includes: assistant referee at the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup and refereeing at the 2017 tournament; Tokyo was her second Olympics and she refereed the gold medal match; being the only English referee for rugby sevens at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro; refereeing the women’s final in the Sevens World Cup in San Francisco and at the 2018 Commonwealth Games sevens event in Australia and being an assistant referee for 2018 men's internationals between Germany and Hong Kong and Kenya v Germany, then in the same month, officiating France Women v New Zealand Women.
Very much a team player, she values her referee colleagues and working as a team of three.
"After the match you are back in the England Rugby referee department reviewing the game, which is essential," she says. "Looking at errors is how you learn. It’s good to have all the positive support but my primary focus has to be on the job and learning from each game.
“I’ve always wanted to cover a Premiership match with some of the best players in the world on the pitch. Now it’s happening and I couldn’t be more grateful for all the opportunities the game of rugby has given me."
This step on Sara’s refereeing journey has already brought lots of interest from the media and beyond.
She added: “I will love this opportunity as a first but what I would really love is for women referees to become the norm. With the number now involved, it can only inspire others. I want to grow interest, motivate others, while doing my job, which is to be out there in the middle of a rugby pitch.”
